Would You Buy a Plastic Suit From Stella McCartney?

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Stella McCartney at her fall 2017 show during Paris Fashion Week.CreditCreditValerio Mezzanotti for The New York Times

By Valeriya Safronova

June 6, 2017

The newest luxury material to hit high-fashion rails has nothing to do with centuries of artisanal tradition or rare and exotic animals, and everything to do with ... garbage. And it is coming soon to a Stella McCartney store near you.

On Tuesday, with World Oceans Day around the corner, the label announced that it was entering into a long-term partnership with Parley for the Oceans, an organization that works to end the destruction of marine life. One of the group’s biggest initiatives is the creation of a yarn fiber (imagine the soft upper of an Adidas knit shoe and you’ll get the idea) that is made from plastic objects such as fishing nets, debris and bottles that are collected from oceans. Ms. McCartney plans to use it.

“To take something that is destructive and turn it into something that’s sexy and cool, how can that not be luxury?” Ms. McCartney said. In the past, scientists have calculated that 4.8 to 12.7 million metric tons of plastic waste enter the oceans annually.

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Plastic collected from the ocean in the Maldives.Creditvia Parley for the Oceans

Cyrill Gutsch, the founder of Parley, said: “We felt by creating a premium material out of this trash, we can raise awareness for the problem in general.” He hopes that buyers who see the organization’s tag on Stella McCartney clothes will be motivated to look into its work to end pollution of the oceans.

Since 2015, Parley has worked with the government of the Maldives, as well as the nation’s resorts, fisheries, schools and fishing vessels to collect 80 to 120 tons of plastic from the oceans per month. After gathering the plastic, Parley cleans and sorts it, then condenses it into smaller pieces that are shipped to recycling plants, where they are turned into filament and then into yarn or fabric. Parley is collaborating with the United Nations to extend its programs to 38 small island developing states.

She would not say how much of each product will be made from the material, in part because the process of using it in items beyond sneakers began only recently. “You’re not dealing with a machine,” Ms. McCartney said. “You can’t just say, ‘Hey, this is a great idea, let’s roll it out with X million pieces.’”

Will consumers be convinced that garments made in part from recycled materials are worth hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars?

“When I was younger, leather equaled luxury, and people could not get their head around the fact that I was not using leather,” said Ms. McCartney, who has made animal rights a focus for her vegan brand since its founding in 2001. “Leather is cheaper than some of the nonleather alternatives, it’s less interesting, it’s less modern. Every element of it, to me, is not particularly luxurious or fashionable.”

She continued, “Is a recycled plastic ever going to be something people think is a luxury? If they don’t notice it and if they feel that living on this planet longer is a luxury, then yes, to me that’s my idea of luxury.”

Her company has teamed up with sustainability-focused organizations over the years, including the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Wildlife Friendly Enterprise Network, and has used fabrics that have a low impact on the environment, like cashmere that is made from post-factory waste and viscose that does not originate in endangered forests.

She acknowledged that working with alternative materials can mean higher production costs, but said that her company tries not to pass on those expenses to the consumer.

“We are always getting hit with extra costs, and that’s something we absorb happily,” she said. “Even with bringing nonleather goods into the U.S., we get hit with an extra tax. It’s something we just swallow. I can’t deliver a product that’s more expensive and that prices me out of the marketplace.”

Ms. McCartney said to expect to see Parley material in pieces that will go on sale in July, though you probably won’t be able to recognize them without reading the tag. “We’re in a framework where we can deliver something to people,” she said. “It’s not one piece that’s overpriced or 50 pieces that look like they have been woven in your living room.”

The ultimate hope, for both Parley and Ms. McCartney, is that a new material will be invented to replace plastic, and for there to be no plastic discarded into the oceans for them to reclaim. In the meantime, Mr. Gutsch said he wants Ms. McCartney’s participation to serve as an example for the fashion industry. “We know if Stella starts something, she goes all the way,” he said.